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Manuka Oval
Manuka Oval is a 13,550 capacity ground located in the suburb of Griffith, adjacent to Manuka, a business district of Canberra. The stadium is home to many events throughout the year, including cricket matches in the summer months and Australian rules football matches in the winter months. History The oval was originally a park officially known as Manuka Circle Park, however by the end of the 1920s it was known as Manuka Oval. The park and shopping centre were named after the leptospermum scoparium plant's Māori name, Manuka. There was a push for the park to become an enclosed oval starting in 1926 by various sports groups.[4] Work began on Manuka Oval to erect a fence, along with other improvements made in 1929. The field had previously been used to casually play rugby league and Australian rules football. The first cricket pitch was played on in April 1930. The Bradman Pavilion, the oval's main stand, was constructed in 1962 in honour of Sir Donald Bradman. The Robert Menzies Stand and the Bob Hawke Stand were constructed in 1987 and 1992 respectively and were named after the first two Australian Prime Ministers who brought international cricket to Canberra in the form of the Prime Minister's XI.[5] In 2004, Manuka Oval celebrated the 75th anniversary of its formal establishment. Manuka Oval will have a $4.3million upgrade starting from the second half of 2011, which includes 4,300 additional temporary seats for the venue, new media and corporate facilities, upgrades to the Hawke and Bradman stands' covering and upgrades to entry facilities, with upgrades of the ground's lighting to the to be considered in the future.[6][7] On 16 October 2012, the ACT Government announced floodlights would be installed at the ground to allow night matches for both cricket and AFL. The lighting will be installed in time for the 2013 AFL season and pre-season cup. The first game under lights will feature the Greater Western Sydney Giants who now tenant the ground. [8] Aussie Rules at Manuka The oval was a home venue to the North Melbourne Kangaroos, who had played matches at the venue from 1998 to 2006, playing three games per season from 2001 onwards. The ground record crowd was set in 2006 when 14,922 people came to watch the Kangaroos play the Sydney Swans.[13] It was announced on 16 August 2006 that the Melbourne Demons and the Western Bulldogs would play one premiership match each, from 2007 to 2009, all games were played against the Sydney Swans. The ground hosted one AFL regular season fixture in 2010 and 2011 between the Western Bulldogs and the Sydney Swans.[14][15] From 2012 onwards the Greater Western Sydney Giants will play three regular season matches a year and one pre-season match at the ground.[16] Manuka also hosts the home matches of the Belconnen Magpies and Eastlake Demons in the North East Australian Football League competition as well as all eastern conference finals. The Saints at Manuka St Kilda has only played the one game for points at Manuka Oval, against North Melbourne in 2001. The Saints will return to Manuka in 2013 to play the GWS Giants, in the first match under lights at the stadium. In the Saints' first game at the ground in 2001, Stewart Loewe kicked 7 goals in their round 8 clash against the Kangaroos. The Saints lost that game by 49 points Category:Grounds